1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for facilitating drainage of wastewater from the holding tank or tanks of a recreational vehicle, and more particularly to a device that attaches to the wastewater outlet of a recreational vehicle and includes provision for a jet stream of water to be directed into an outlet conduit on the device to facilitate removal of wastewater from the device. The jet stream of water serves two purposes. It expedites wastewater removal from the tank being drained, and it pulverizes any solid material in the wastewater, thus reducing or eliminating plugging during the wastewater draining procedure.
The term "recreational vehicle," commonly abbreviated as "RV" is an all-encompassing term used to describe the variety of motor homes, travel trailers, and campers presently in use. In these recreational vehicles, users generally attempt to take many of the comforts of home with them to anywhere the open road leads. One of these comforts is indoor plumbing, which can (and typically does) include a sink, a bathtub or shower, and a toilet.
Most larger recreational vehicles have the entire spectrum of plumbed facilities, often including two sinks, a toilet, and a combination bath/shower. The design of the plumbing system of a recreational vehicle is much more complex than the plumbing in a typical home, since the recreational vehicle must include holding tanks both to store fresh water and to store wastewater.
Wastewater is of two different types: gray-water which is wastewater from the sinks and showers or baths, and black-water, which is waste from the toilet. In most recreational vehicles, gray-water and black-water are stored in two different holding tanks. These gray-water and black-water holding tanks must of course be drained periodically, and most recreational vehicle areas include dump stations into which the gray-water and black-water holding tanks may be drained.
2. Background Art
Attempts have been made to facilitate the process of waste removal from an RV.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,811,462 to Feliz describes an elaborate system for this purpose, but it is too complicated to gain widespread acceptance.
U.S. Pat Nos. 4,133,347 to Mercer and 5,141,017 to Trottier both disclose simpler adapters for this purpose, but while they include provisions for backflushing and rinsing the system, they do not provide any means for actually expediting the waste removal process. The Trottier patent contains a particularly thorough description of RV plumbing systems, including the procedure for draining wastewater from conventional systems.